Margaret (in progress)

I had the honor of meeting a friend's wife in person after having only heard of her from afar. When we met, I was struck by her pale complexion, dark eyes and black curly hair. She reminded me of the pretty women often depicted on vintage cigar box labels, so I asked if I could paint her portrait as such.

She graciously sat for me and I am now about half-way through painting her portrait. 

As I painted, I took pictures so you can see the image emerging from the canvas.

 

 

It's getting there, piece by piece. 

I have been busy with my writing lately but am trying to spend a few hours here and there on this portrait. I needed to really push myself to break out of my artistic rut. For too long I have just painted small paintings in short periods of time, rather than pushing my skill by working on something difficult. Seeing what can be accomplished when I push harder over multiple days is encouraging.

Sunday Inspiration: J. Kirk Richards Paints a Portrait

A Pair of Portraits

I was commissioned by a friend to paint two portraits as Christmas presents. Now that they've been given, I can post about them!

The first is a portrait of her best friend's grandfather, who recently passed away:



To create this portrait, I worked from a variety of old photos. I wanted to show him as a determined man who had been the progenitor of a tough, strong family. A guy you'd love to meet. But I also wanted to capture a sense of history... hence the sepia-toned image. I find that a minimal color scheme is also my natural course when painting portraits.

The second portrait features a married couple:



Again, I hadn't met the couple, but I did have a set of photos. The one I finally chose to use put its primary focus on the wife. Her facial expression really captured me. She's caught in a moment of enjoyment... the soft pleasure of a kiss on the cheek. I was told that this couple were vibrant people that enjoyed life... so I went for bright colors and some simple abstraction, rather than a strict representation. By focusing on the wife's beauty, and the tenderness of her husband, I went more for a sense of aesthetic and emotional styling rather than a standard portrait. I think it works pretty well.

It's fun to do portraits. Fortunately, I received good feedback on this set! I must say, it's simultaneously flattering and terrifying to be asked to capture a person's image on canvas. If you screw up, you can make some SERIOUS enemies.

-DG